Dylan Wiley, VP of eOne Films, and Paul Dergarabedian, from Hollywood.com, Talk About Rob with EW

Robert Pattinson, after years of puckering his sparkling vampire lips and gaining female fans with every perky strand of his swoopy hair in theTwilight films, has finally graduated with alumni cred at the box office, showing he has what it takes to draw in moviegoers beyond the romantic realm of blood-lusty (and just lusty) Edward and Bella.

Pattinson’s whoozy, philosophy-laden pairing with director David Cronenberg, Cosmopolis, racked up a solid $70,339 in three theaters this past Friday through Sunday, when it opened in tightly limited release domestically, according to box office tracker Hollywood.com. The film, about Pattinson as a disillusioned, overly sexed billionaire making his way across Manhattan to get a haircut, has made roughly $266,900 in North America, including theatrical screenings in Canada. Next weekend the film jumps into nationwide limited release in 60 theaters across the U.S., said Dylan Wiley, vice president of theatrical marketing and distribution for the movie’s distributor Entertainment One Films U.S.

“Rob, with this performance, has shown there is more to him than just Twilight,” Wiley tells EW.com. “This is a very serious actor playing a very serious role with a very serious filmmaker.

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Box office experts also see some hope in Pattinson, a relatively shy, musically inclined intellectual sort, compared to other Twilight graduates (Taylor Lautner, anyone?).“Perhaps of all the Twilight folks, he’s the one, with this movie, who has gained credibility,” says Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box office division of Hollywood.com. “His personal life has not been great, but his acting life is just beginning. I think Pattinson has a lot of gravitas, and that translates on screen.”

Mostly, to straddle the hurdles of both mega movie franchise fame and artsy indie flick gusto at the box office, he needs guys to go out and watch him too, not just women.

That may or may not happen with upcoming films such as the Werner Herzog-directed Queen of the Desert, in which he’ll play T.E. Lawrence — Lawrence of Arabia — alongside Naomi Watts. There’s always The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2, the franchise’s fifth and last installment, set to premiere in November.

“The challenge for Pattinson is winning over the male fans, who stayed away from the Twilight films,” says Dergarabedian. “I think he can do it… If he were to work with a [Quentin] Tarantino or [Steven] Spielberg, who have that kind of credibility themselves, he’ll gain credibility. He’s still pretty young, and has time to build his career. He may be able to bounce between the big budget films and independently minded films. Look at Jeremy Renner.”